


Actions Speak Louder

by DragonsPhoenix



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Jossverse
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-20
Updated: 2013-10-20
Packaged: 2017-12-29 23:52:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 385
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1011560
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DragonsPhoenix/pseuds/DragonsPhoenix
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Assigning a new Watcher to Faith and Buffy didn't go as smoothly as the Council had hoped.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Actions Speak Louder

By ancient tradition the Council Head personally appointed the Watcher who was to train the next Slayer, but Quentin Travers hadn't bothered to come himself. He'd sent Bigsby in his place, but that didn't actually matter. It wasn't about to change his response. 

Bigsby's smile, while both avuncular and charming, didn't quite reach his eyes. “The circumstances are unusual to be sure, a second Slayer, but if Mr. Giles' evaluation goes … well, if you feel Mr. Giles has not lived up to his duties, then you'll be training both Slayers. Quite the coup. You'd be the first.” 

“I'd be on a Hellmouth. I'd have no backup.” He didn't allow any inflection to creep into his voice.

“You'd have two Slayers as well as Mr. Giles' expertise to call upon.”

“Would I be counting on his expertise before or after I tell him that I'm there to question his abilities?”

Bigsby's smile thinned out a bit but he didn't reply.

“After her first Watcher died, Miss Summers was left alone, unguided and abandoned, for over four months.”

Bigsby straightened his tie before speaking. “Operational procedures require that the current Watcher's authority remain unquestioned. The Council keeps its distance. That's our tradition.”

“And what happened to the body of Miss Lehane's first Watcher?”

Bigsby's smile was one of relief, as if he'd suddenly realized what this line of questioning was about. “While Watchers do, occasionally, erm, retire in the field, the guidelines laid out in your Watcher's Handbook should be, will be, more than adequate to keep you safe.”

“I'm certain someone at or above your level has reviewed my background. Were you personally aware that my uncle was assigned to a Slayer in '72? Did you know he was dead for three months before the Council even noticed? Or that his body was never recovered?”

“I do not appreciate your tone, young man. I assure you that you will be perfectly safe if you follow Council procedures while in the field. Over the past fifty years we have only lost … ”

Jeremy Taylor, the latest in a long line of those assigned to train a Slayer, stood and waited for Bigsby to stop speaking. Then, turning his back on the man, Jeremy walked out the door. Perhaps he actions would speak more clearly than his words had.


End file.
